Maximizing Combat Potential
Combat can be tough, especially if you have aggressive neighbors constantly attacking. Not to worry. This is a comprehensive guide on how to maximize your combat efficency. There is always a presence of war even if you attack barbarians there still is a chance you'll lose some men in the process. The first step is to sprcialize in a certain army because a jack of all trades army means you'll be good at everything but if a heavy scialized army attacks, you'll be at their mercy (they really won't have any). Let's take a look on what to do beforehand and how to effectively win against most armies. Before Combat Offensive: What needs to be done is to get an idea on what kind of army you will be facing. The easiest thing to do is send scouts to examine your target. 1 or 2 scouts will not work so the best idea is to send a troop of scouts (recommended 10% of overall target's population). Once your report comes in you will see their armies and resources but be warned, if there is scouts in their city they will kill some of your own scouts! The enemy will also see who scouted them so be prepared to follow up with an attack as soon as possible. Decide what units will be better at attacking by checking favorite rival, perks, etc. Defensive: An attack is coming for you but you're not sure if it's fake or real. The first step is to make sure your outer fortifications is set and maxed out (pit, pallsade, wall, fortified zone). The pallisade and walls can be damaged by rams but the pit and fortified zone cannot. If you are in a country, ask to see if they can send reinforcements to the city being attacked. You will need to reposition armies to certain tactics to be able to win. As the outer fortification adds defense to the troops (boosting heath and damage by a percentage). Any reinforcing troops go by he player's war stat, further increasing the health and damage of units. A recommendation is to set some of your attack group to reserve to come in later in a fight. You can also build ranged units or any unit with the defensive expert perk. This perk bolsters that unit's stats by 50% when being attacked. Combat and Explanation The fight starts and there are questions needed to be asked: Are my attack troops vulnerable to being outmatched by their forces? Is my ranged group protected from the enemy flank? Do I have reserve units ready to come into the fight when my attackers are exhausted? Here is a brief rundown on what is good against whom. Attack units are the bread and butter of any army. They are prone to be exhausted after a few rounds of combat and will lose bonuses. They are effective against other infantry and have no notable weaknesses until exhausted. Reserve units come into the attack column when the attacking group is exhausted, granting them an armor bonus. They are effective against weakened attack forces but extremely vulnerable against ranged units. Ranged units fire on all units, starting with other ranged units before focusing on the attack/reserve group. They are effective against weakened attack group and reserve but extremely vulnerable to bypassing units. Bypass units try to go around the flank and attack ranged units. If they succeed, a damage bonus is granted. They are effective against ranged units but are vulnerable to flank units. Flank units protect the ranged units from being overcome. If no bypass units are present they do not fight unless they are attacked by the enemy center. They are effective against bypass units. To effectively defend a good mix of attack, reserve, ranged and flank units are needed. If you do not have reserve units, you can reposition some of your attack group to reserve. 30-50% is usually recommended to solidify the backbone of your army. The strongest attack group unit you have researched is a must for this field. Your ranged units should consist of longbows and archers as they have the defensive expert perk, granting them a bonus to their stats when under attack. For flank, they always do extra damage against calvary (most bypass units) but haliberders are recommended for defense with the defesive expert perk. Reserve units for defesive measures are swordsmen until you get guardsmen which have the defensive expert perk. For offense: You highest researched attack units are a must. Any unit with offensive expert (knight) or mass damage (samurai, grenadier) are a bonus as they deal more damage when attacking. Reserve units should consist of axemen early game for offensive perk then horse crossbowmen for the population killing then dragoons when available. Ranged units should consist of crossbowmen/chu-no-kus for damage and population killing. Your bypass should be the highest researched unit since there is not many choices. If you want to demolish a city, make sure to have catapults followed behind the attacking wave so they do not get damaged during the fight. If you have aircraft researched this may also be used for attacking and bombarding a city.